Can TX but not RX

sunspot · Apr 18, 2018

Wasn't sure where to put this topic.

This is a strange issue, I've just gotten into amateur radio, I picked up an IC-7300, an LDG 200 watt tuner, and a power supply. I built a 40M band windom antenna with a 4:1 balun and put it up 20' high in my trees. One end is about 22' and the other is about 44'.

I hook it all up, get on the 40M band and start calling CQ. After a day of nothing but barely audible voices in static, I get a phone call from a friendly ham letting me know that plenty of people are calling back to me and that he can hear me clear as day. He then pointed a directional antenna at me and cranked it up to 1500 watts and he's like "there's no way you won't hear this". Well, I heard it, but I could still barely make out what he was saying.

I have both pre amps on, I've taken the tuner out of the equation. And still nothing. Does anyone have any tips or ideas? I'm starting to worry it's my new 7300.

Thanks for any help,

Chad

prcguy · Apr 18, 2018

You'll never need the preamp below 10m. Otherwise make sure the RF gain/squelch knob is at 12 o'clock, no attenuation is on, your IF BW is wide enough for SSB, etc. What is your noise floor showing on your S meter with nobody tuned in?

sunspot said:
Wasn't sure where to put this topic.

This is a strange issue, I've just gotten into amateur radio, I picked up an IC-7300, an LDG 200 watt tuner, and a power supply. I built a 40M band windom antenna with a 4:1 balun and put it up 20' high in my trees. One end is about 22' and the other is about 44'.

I hook it all up, get on the 40M band and start calling CQ. After a day of nothing but barely audible voices in static, I get a phone call from a friendly ham letting me know that plenty of people are calling back to me and that he can hear me clear as day. He then pointed a directional antenna at me and cranked it up to 1500 watts and he's like "there's no way you won't hear this". Well, I heard it, but I could still barely make out what he was saying.

I have both pre amps on, I've taken the tuner out of the equation. And still nothing. Does anyone have any tips or ideas? I'm starting to worry it's my new 7300.

Thanks for any help,

Chad

AK9R · Apr 18, 2018

Is it possible that your antenna and/or feedline are defective? Tune to the frequency of a nearby AM broadcast station and put the radio into AM mode. The station should be booming in.

KC5AKB · Apr 19, 2018

Hi Chad,
If you are Near Dallas Fort Worth yell at me
Kc5akb@arrl.net

edweirdFL · Apr 19, 2018

The knob that controls the speaker volume is next to where the mic plugs in and is labeled AF - RF/SQL

The inside part is colored black, and I'm going to say at about the 10 o'clock position will provide some but not too much volume.

The outside ring is colored silver and this is what I'm suggesting you check. The first part of it's rotation controls RF gain and then at about the 1 o'clock to 2 o'clock position it starts to increase squelch which is indicated by a very small upside down triangle that will move up the S-Meter.

You want to typically have this in the 1 o'clock area which will mean the RF gain is cut up, but there's no squelch being applied.

sunspot · Apr 19, 2018

Yes, the RF Gain knob is at 1 o'clock. My smeter is at 9 when there is just noise. I can hear AM stations clear as day.

I can hear *some* people perfectly clear but they're all in my state. But I know I'm making contacts with people 4 or 5 states over and they can hear me perfectly clear, they compliment my signal, but then I can barely hear them. I can hear them just enough to know they're there, I can see a small water fall of their singe, but it's so light and noise filled that I cannot understand them. I've tried attenuation, noise blocking, etc. I don't know what to do. Why would my antenna and transceiver be able to TX so perfectly but not receive. It's driving me nuts. Starting to wonder if my IC-7300 is a lemon.

My antenna is an OCF dipole, 22' and 44' with a 4:1 balun hung 20' high and a 50ohm 100' coax running along the ground into the house.

Thanks

Chad

majoco · Apr 19, 2018

First rule before carrying out any transmission is to listen.

WA0CBW · Apr 19, 2018

S9 is a pretty high noise level. Is this with the RF gain at Max and the pre-amps off?
BB

sunspot · Apr 19, 2018

majoco said:
First rule before carrying out any transmission is to listen.

Okay...? Who says I didn't? I don't really understand what you were trying to add. If this was an attempt at being helpful then please clarify. If not then please don't. I've encountered more than my share of rude hams since starting this hobby only a few days ago and I'm already starting to get turned off from this. Have you ever heard of calling CQ on what appears to be a dead frequency?

S9 is a pretty high noise level. Is this with the RF gain at Max and the pre-amps off?
BB

Yes I've tried changing the RF Gain a number of times. I've used no preamps, 1, and 2, still all the same. I'll find conversations taking place, and I'll only be able to hear one half of the conversation. If I join on a net with 2 or 3 people often they all can hear me, but I can only hear one of them at best. I've spoken with other hams on the phone and over email to clarify that they are hearing me clear as day.

One ham is only 2 miles away from me in very similar conditions, same radio, same antenna (mostly) at the same height, and we had a 3 way conversation with a ham a few states away, they both could hear me clearly, and I could only hear the ham 2 miles away.

Thanks for any help or suggestions you guys may have.

sunspot · Apr 19, 2018

WA0CBW said:
S9 is a pretty high noise level. Is this with the RF gain at Max and the pre-amps off?
BB

It's between 5 and 9 with the rf gain knob turned up until it squelches with both pre amps off.

AK9R · Apr 19, 2018

sunspot said:
My antenna is an OCF dipole, 22' and 44' with a 4:1 balun hung 20' high and a 50ohm 100' coax running along the ground into the house.

Commercially made or home brew? With those dimensions, it should work on 40m and higher. However, you may have it too close to the ground. I think OCFDs like to be higher. What are you using for coax? 100 feet of RG-58 will have a fair amount of loss even on HF freqs. 100 feet of RG-8 would be better.

sunspot said:
I don't really understand what you were trying to add.

Wearing my moderator hat, just move on.

sunspot said:
It's between 5 and 9 with the rf gain knob turned up until it squelches with both pre amps off.

First off, turn the pre-amps off and leave them off for the time being. You generally don't need pre-amps except on bands higher than 20m. Certainly not on 40m.

Try turning your RF gain down (CCW) while you listen to a signal. The noise and the signal will get quieter, but you should be able to slowly increase the volume (AF gain) to compensate. You may be able to find a point where the signal is strong enough above the noise that you can copy the signal better. BTW, headphones will help if you aren't using them already. The speakers in most radios are a little cheesy.

One of things to keep in mind is that your pre-amps and your RF gain control amplify both the signals and the noise. If you are in a noisy environment or the bands are just lousy, amplifying both just adds to the frustration.

How do you have your AGC set? Generally, a "slow AGC" will be better on sideband.

Broadband noise can be a real headache. One of the tests you can do is figure out a way to run your radio on battery temporarily (your radio won't take nearly as much current on receive as it does on transmit, so a small battery will work). Then turn off the main circuit breaker for your house. If the noise goes away, the problem is in your house. Then, turn the main back on and one-by-one turn off each breaker until you isolate the noise. You may find that there's a device on that circuit that's generating your noise. Wall-warts are notorious for this. If you turn off the main breaker and the noise doesn't go away, then the problem will be harder to track down. It could be your neighbors or it could be the power lines. Speaking of power lines, does your power company read your meter remotely? Those devices are another source of noise.

prcguy · Apr 19, 2018

Your noise level seems a little high and if people can hear you fine I wonder if you are having a local noise problem that is degrading reception. I had a noise problem for awhile on 40m from a suspected indoor growing operation and a 10dB over S9 noise level coupled with lousy band conditions ruined my 40m operation for awhile. People could hear me just fine but all I got was noise on 40m.

The Icom 7300 has a really good receiver and unless its broken something else is causing your reception problems. Where are you located?

sunspot said:
It's between 5 and 9 with the rf gain knob turned up until it squelches with both pre amps off.

wyShack · Apr 19, 2018

It does sound like a high noise level at you location. Have you tried other bands? Odds are 75 meters would be worse but 20 meters should be 'quieter'. Remember it is not the signal strength but the signal to noise ratio that makes signals more 'readable'. You may actually find using attenuation improves your ability to hear other stations.

That said, another thing to do is to see if you can find the source of the noise. If you have some help form local hams with some experience, ask for some help. Otherwise, I would start by turning 'off' everything you can in your house. Check if the noise goes away. If so turn things on one at a time and see what causes the noise to climb. Often this is a computer or something similar. Also remember many things in your home don't have an 'off' switch-you may need to flip some breakers to find the problem. If nothing in your house is causing the problem it may be a power line or cable TV line near your house.

The effectiveness of your station is more limited by your receive capabilities than transmit in many cases-If you can't hear them you can't communicate.

Good luck and keep asking questions -it is the best way to learn

73

majoco · Apr 19, 2018

My apologies, but if you had said this in the first place, we would be much further forward...

Yes I've tried changing the RF Gain a number of times. I've used no preamps, 1, and 2, still all the same. I'll find conversations taking place, and I'll only be able to hear one half of the conversation. If I join on a net with 2 or 3 people often they all can hear me, but I can only hear one of them at best. I've spoken with other hams on the phone and over email to clarify that they are hearing me clear as day.

One ham is only 2 miles away from me in very similar conditions, same radio, same antenna (mostly) at the same height, and we had a 3 way conversation with a ham a few states away, they both could hear me clearly, and I could only hear the ham 2 miles away.

Thanks for any help or suggestions you guys may have.

Many have already given much assistance - I can't add much more, it seems that you must go around your house and the neighbourhood and find where the interference is coming from. LED and LCD light bulbs in your house are a good start. When you made contact with your local station, did he give you an indication of your signal strength? Even a dummy load will give a signal for a couple of miles! Try disconnecting your antenna, turn the receiver RF gain up, then reconnect the antenna to make sure it is external noise and not something wrong with the receiver. Is it broadband noise over every waveband, or just 40m? Can anyone else hear it?

wb6uqa · Apr 20, 2018

bad reception

Invite the ham near your house to inspect your station.The 7300 has a built-in swr meter

W9OHM · Apr 20, 2018

Unless I missed it, was this radio purchased new or used?

sunspot · Apr 21, 2018

Sorry for the delayed response I haven't been able to do much testing until the weekend.

I'm going to try pulling the breakers and using one of my UPSs to power the radio and see if it improves reception.

Yes the radio is brand new, I bought it from the Ham Radio Outlet, I spoke with the guy I got it from and he wanted me to attempt a full reset first, but if it's not better Monday he is going to do an exchange. While there's a strong possibility it's not the radio and instead an issue I'm having I'd rather eliminate this possibility while I'm still within the return window. I'm hoping he'll ship the return and let me do a side by side comparison before I return the other one.

I'm located in Troy, MI. The other ham I was referring to I only spoke with for maybe 5 minutes on the air, he did give me his phone number but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable imposing that kind of request upon him. I need to find a local ham meetup, I know there is a swap meet near by at the end of the month.

I was told that I had a booming, perfect signal.

Out of desperation I bought an 8 foot copper clad grounding rod, installed that with a ground wire and ran that to my radio/power supply/tuner. Some people say it helps with RF interference, I did not notice a difference. Granted it is a 45ft ground run with #10 wire so it's probably not doing squat. I'm installing a lightning arrestor inline with the antenna feed line today that will also meet with that ground rod.

I'm using 100' of 50 Ohm RG8X to my antenna. The antenna is homemade. I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron/rework stations/etc and I have an engineering background, I'm pretty confident it's built properly. I'm wondering if it's a height issue as the long side (44') of the antenna had to go pretty low and the end of it (probably 10' worth) is running parallel with my gutters but about 8' away from them. I wonder if that's what's causing this. I've just been under the impression that if I can TX to someone I should be able to RX from them no problem. But from these responses I guess I'm wrong there. Can someone recommend a good mast to put on my roof to get this line further up and away from my gutters? Nothing too fancy/expensive yet, I'm sure I'll work my way up to more and more crazy types of antenna setups as I just got the ARRL antenna book and has given me an itch to start building all sorts of these interesting antennas. I just wish I had more property as I live in a rather dense subdivision.

The only other band I've really played with is the 50mhz band as there is a repeater in Detroit I can hit and it's crystal clear and my signal reports are all great. The antenna I built is designed for 40m so I haven't deviated much from there.

AGC is set to slow, power meter is read manually.

Thank you all for your help, I really wasn't expecting this much feed back when I logged on today! I really appreciate it. I'll run some more tests and I'll let you know what I find out.

prcguy · Apr 21, 2018

Sounds like you are on the right track shutting off the breakers in your house to find any noise but try and run direct from a 12v battery and not a full on UPS that is making 120V. I hope you get to the bottom of the problem as the 7300 will give you lots of good fun when your reception is dialed in.

The stock settings for transmit on a 7300 sound very good but I can give you slightly modified settings that will bring the transmitter alive and get more positive comments.

sunspot said:
Sorry for the delayed response I haven't been able to do much testing until the weekend.

I'm going to try pulling the breakers and using one of my UPSs to power the radio and see if it improves reception.

Yes the radio is brand new, I bought it from the Ham Radio Outlet, I spoke with the guy I got it from and he wanted me to attempt a full reset first, but if it's not better Monday he is going to do an exchange. While there's a strong possibility it's not the radio and instead an issue I'm having I'd rather eliminate this possibility while I'm still within the return window. I'm hoping he'll ship the return and let me do a side by side comparison before I return the other one.

I'm located in Troy, MI. The other ham I was referring to I only spoke with for maybe 5 minutes on the air, he did give me his phone number but I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable imposing that kind of request upon him. I need to find a local ham meetup, I know there is a swap meet near by at the end of the month.

I was told that I had a booming, perfect signal.

Out of desperation I bought an 8 foot copper clad grounding rod, installed that with a ground wire and ran that to my radio/power supply/tuner. Some people say it helps with RF interference, I did not notice a difference. Granted it is a 45ft ground run with #10 wire so it's probably not doing squat. I'm installing a lightning arrestor inline with the antenna feed line today that will also meet with that ground rod.

I'm using 100' of 50 Ohm RG8X to my antenna. The antenna is homemade. I'm pretty handy with a soldering iron/rework stations/etc and I have an engineering background, I'm pretty confident it's built properly. I'm wondering if it's a height issue as the long side (44') of the antenna had to go pretty low and the end of it (probably 10' worth) is running parallel with my gutters but about 8' away from them. I wonder if that's what's causing this. I've just been under the impression that if I can TX to someone I should be able to RX from them no problem. But from these responses I guess I'm wrong there. Can someone recommend a good mast to put on my roof to get this line further up and away from my gutters? Nothing too fancy/expensive yet, I'm sure I'll work my way up to more and more crazy types of antenna setups as I just got the ARRL antenna book and has given me an itch to start building all sorts of these interesting antennas. I just wish I had more property as I live in a rather dense subdivision.

The only other band I've really played with is the 50mhz band as there is a repeater in Detroit I can hit and it's crystal clear and my signal reports are all great. The antenna I built is designed for 40m so I haven't deviated much from there.

AGC is set to slow, power meter is read manually.

Thank you all for your help, I really wasn't expecting this much feed back when I logged on today! I really appreciate it. I'll run some more tests and I'll let you know what I find out.

wb6uqa · Apr 21, 2018

7300

Check your attenuator. That can cut your receive way down.

wb6uqa · Apr 21, 2018

take your radio to your neighbor's house it should work the same as his on his antenna.

Can TX but not RX

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